Several designs have been described for the separation of fluid mixtures using organized turbulent effects between counter-rotating disks to create a vortex network. These include the Wilmot H. McCutchen U.S. Pat. No. 7,901,485 (Mar. 8, 2011) “Radial Counterflow Carbon Capture and Flue Gas Scrubbing”, U.S. Pat. No. 8,025,801 (Sep. 27, 2011)“Radial Counterflow Inductive Desalination”, U.S. Pat. No. 7,987,677 (Aug. 2, 2011) and U.S. Pat. No. 8,474,264 (Jul. 2, 2013) “Radial Counterflow Steam Stripper”, U.S. Pat. No. 9,611,556 (Apr. 4, 2017) “Radial Counterflow Shear Electrolysis”, and “Radial Counterflow Reactor with Applied Radiant Energy” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/360,564 by Wilmot H. McCutchen and the Applicant.
These all describe the formation of a vortex network in a shear layer. As shown in Tao Xing, “Direct numerical simulation of Open von Karman Swirling Flow” from the Journal of Hydrodynamics 2014, 26(2):165-177, this network includes opposing spiral networks of vortices near each rotating disk, plus complex and changing vortices in the shear layer between them.
The cited patents describe the separation of lighter fractions in a fluid mixture, with the lighter fractions sucked inward through the cores of the vortices while the heavier fractions are centrifugated outward from the cores and toward the periphery of the disks. The separation effect is tied to the rotation speed of the vortex, which is controlled by the vortex size. If suction to the core is applied to concentrate the vortex, then the g forces increases, in the manner of a skater drawing in their arms to create a faster spin, with the higher g's increasing the separation of the fractions by weight.
A baffle is also described in the cited patents for separating the inward and outward flows from the workspace between the disks. All of these have been shown as solid disks in structure. These baffles do not include means for a direct connection to the vortices in the workspace to act as a drain or exhaust for the just the cores of the vortices, so an axial drain may tend to draw in all of the components of the workspace without discrimination.